I have received some very lovely emails asking me to post pictures of the patterned pasta I made last year. Here in this post I am re-publishing pictures of the Mezza Luna ravioli Ahlia and I made over a year ago…

Last summer I made rose petal tagliatelle. Rouge coloured dough sweetened by the natural sugars in the petals. For the Swiss Italian Festival I had decided to make rose petal tagliatelle for a singing and dancing event I had organised….

I am planting trees and buying trees. Early on Tuesday mornings, once a month Ralf and I leave at 6am for the plant trade fair to purchase wholesale plants for our garden. I have planted rosemary, sage, lemongrass, pig face…

Yogurt Cheese White, Cream, Butter. Milk is ready for the starter. Yogurt is simple to make. I can make it at a cost so low that there is now both a cultural and economic incentive to do so. I looked for a recipe…

Our move to Daylesford was made in September last year. We nestled into our guest house accommodation and decorated its floors with boxes upon boxes full of our belongings. The shed too was filled with fridge and couch and bedding…

You don’t need to be old to share your skills and knowledge, nor old to be ‘elder’ like. In some cultures it takes a lifetimes work to become an elder in others maybe a little less: a body of knowledge…

I have been thinking about our garden design for months. I studied Horticulture at Burnley and completed three wonderful subjects which opened my mind to a broader variety of plants. For a long time Indigenous plants had been my biggest…

I moved to Melbourne at 18. It was the very best thing to do. The diversity of people there meant that there was someone for everyone. The subcultures to be found in each suburb ensured that eventually I would find…

Unlike many other children’s films, the story Hayao tells, has a refreshing gentleness. A domestic family scene is the basis for unfolding adventures, which are rich in emotional colour but devoid of the intensity of many action packed children’s dramas….

In my twenties I spent my university holidays WWOOFing, culminating in a permaculture course in Hepburn Springs. Fifteen years later, with a seven week old baby (Artemisia) in our arms, Ralf, Ahlia and I met up with friends at Barbialla, a Tuscan farm. There we shared the mornings work: baking bread, tending the vegetable garden, stirring quince paste, before coming together to cook, feast and chiacchierare (chatter).

Our Italian adventure inspired Village Dreaming a place where guests could experience village life at its very best. At our new 15 acre farm in Blampied (Daylesford), we are building a new home with multiple kitchens, a large vegetable kitchen garden, various orchards, a beautiful wetland to welcome native birds and provide habitat for dragonflies and frogs, and areas for keeping animals, chickens, pigs, sheep, ducks and geese. The farm, once established will provide opportunities for groups of people with a passion for growing, preserving, baking, cooking and feasting to come together to learn how to establish their own kitchen garden and how to make the most from their harvest.

This blog is a way to document the building of our farm in Blampied, the cultivation of our new productive garden and the people we meet along the way: inspiring gardeners, farmers, makers. Please join us on our travels.

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